Columns

Human trafficking is an extensive problem worldwide. Even though many of these crimes occur outside of the public eye, the impacts are very real. According to the FBI, sex trafficking is the fastest growing business of organized crime and the third largest criminal enterprise in the world.

There was a story a few weeks ago that breezed through the news cycle in about 24 hours – as most of them do – and left, probably without a lot of Americans paying any attention, or really thinking about it.
It was a comprehensive study conducted by academics who spent years on interviews trying to determine where the power really is in this country.

I’ve been thinking about how to end the strife that’s been getting a lot of attention recently.
No, I’m not talking about the fighting in Eastern Ukraine. I’m talking about the current hissing and spitting contest between the board of supervisors and the school board over the budget.

More than 840,000 veterans call Virginia home and more than 20 million reside in the United States. They have served on battlefields across the globe, been stationed at bases both at home and abroad, and spent months, and even years, away from loved ones. They have sacrificed greatly to defend the freedoms you and I enjoy each day. In turn, it is our duty to ensure that they have access to the care needed when their military service is over.

I agree with the lawsuit against the EPA.
I am concerned they do not mention the chemical companies involvement in the Chesapeake Bay pollution of the nitrogen and phosphorus. The Monsantos and other big rich chemical companies have over load farmers for years. The cow manure is not the cause as our government is trying to make us believe.

You know, I didn’t want to spend a column on that backward Nevada rancher who has made such a fool out of himself trying to graze his cattle for free on government-owned land.
But he’s so typical of many American conservatives these days that I just couldn’t resist. If they were to truly pay attention here, many Republicans could learn a lesson about how to get back into the good graces of the modern American voter and finally win some national elections.

It speaks volumes when one of the most vocal supporters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, says it will “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class” if not fixed. But that is what James Hoffa, president of the Teamsters union, made clear last year in a letter to Democratic leadership in Congress.